Petition To Remove Keith Ellison From Anti -Semitism Task Force

We call on you to remove U.S. Representative Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota) from CTFAS for conduct which is contradictory to the principles of the task force.

* In November 2006, Congressman Ellison spoke at the Fourth Annual Body Meeting of the radical North American Imams Federation (NAIF). In the event program, Ellison's picture was placed next to that of "unindicted co-conspirator" of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Siraj Wahhaj, and Al-Qaeda web designer and Hamas suicide bombing supporter, Mazen Mokhtar.

* In May 2007, Congressman Ellison was the keynote speaker at the 4th Annual Convention of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota (MAS-Minnesota). This, while MAS-Minnesota was propagating violence against Jews on its website with such statements as "If you gain a victory over the men of Jews, kill them." And "May Allah destroy the Jews, because they used the graves of their prophets as places of worship."

* In September 2007 and November 2007, Congressman Ellison gave speeches in front of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). This, while both groups were named by the U.S. Justice Department as co-conspirators for a federal trial dealing with the financing of millions of dollars to Hamas by the leaders of the Muslim "charity," the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF).

In February 2008, Americans Against Hate (AAH) took a delegation to meet with Congressman Ron Klein, for over half an hour, to show him proof of the above information and to ask him to remove Ellison from CTFAS. Klein said he was concerned about the information and said that he would confront Ellison with the material. He said that it would take him a week to decide whether or not to continue to allow Ellison membership in CTFAS.

One week later, Congressman Klein's office said that he would not remove Ellison, stating that Ellison told him that he had "publicly denounced" and would continue to publicly denounce the anti-Semitism from the groups in question.

To this day, Ellison has yet to denounce anything concerning these groups, anti-Semitic or otherwise. Instead, he continues to be involved with them, giving the keynote speech once again at MAS-Minnesota's annual convention and even allowing MAS-Minnesota to finance his trip ("pilgrimage") to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. As well, he gave the keynote speech at CAIR-Chicago's Muslim Youth Leadership Symposium (MYLS), where he allowed himself to be photographed shoulder to shoulder with Hamas operative and HLF trial co-conspirator, Jamal Said.

Congressman Mike Pence's office has deferred its position on the matter to Congressman Klein's office.

We understand that elected officials deserve a certain level of respect, especially from their colleagues. However, Congressman Ellison's continued involvement with groups tied to terrorism and hate ideologies goes way beyond the pale of acceptable behavior. If CTFAS's goal is to speak out against anti-Semitism, then it cannot in good conscience have as a member an individual who is associated with organizations that harbor such bigotry. We therefore call on you to take the necessary action to remove Keith Ellison from CTFAS.